Lightning-speed advances in technology continue to bring great opportunities for business, from new options for product and service creation and delivery, to facility efficiencies, to incredible connectivity. At the same time, a shifting corporate topography - punctuated by the volatile economy, stepped-up mergers and acquisitions activity, and the continued globalization of business - is creating new core business drivers.

Within this context, chief information officers (CIOs) and their information technology departments have taken a front seat in the strategic decision-making process. As such, they now play a critical role in commercial real estate portfolio planning and optimization, working to ensure that their organizations' business strategies are aligned with the best overall real estate decisions.

Consider corporate contraction and expansion over the past five years. The economic downturn created an immediate and pressing need for companies to safely position themselves on all fronts. Everyone was in a freefall, and reducing operating costs became the most critical issue. From the real estate side, this included a requisite to clearly understand the bottom-line impact of the leased and owned space within their portfolios and, in many cases, to optimize utilization through consolidation and disposition of surplus, non-core space.

Now, as the economy improves, there exists a significant increase in mergers and acquisitions activity, as well as a renewed drive toward global expansion. This has again forced rapid changes in real estate needs. Certain sectors - including technology, pharmaceutical, and telecommunications - have exploded as frontrunners into the global marketplace, in many cases through aggressive acquisitions.

At one time, corporations and their real estate services providers would find a preferred location and then worry about fitting out the space. However, at today's pace, the need for comprehensive planning across disciplines and business units (IT/HR/CRE/security/network communications) at the outset is imperative.

When we as real estate services providers sit with the
c-suite today, we are looking at a huge number of variables driving facility planning. Among them, technology is arguably the most critical. Which technologies are the companies using? How is technology involved in the production and marketing of goods? How would the availability of technology infrastructure impact operational expansion into new geographic locations? How can technology facilitate seamless integration of a global real estate portfolio?

Accelerated Globalization and Technology
As an example, Cushman & Wakefield currently is working with a number of clients in the telecommunications, electronics, and computer industries. In a still relatively uncertain economic environment, these companies must anticipate their industries' next moves and proactively plan for their success. Many are acquiring other companies and, more importantly, repositioning their core businesses. We are helping their real estate and IT professionals as they work to be nimble and proactive in optimizing their real estate portfolios.

In many cases, these companies' growing business units are driving them to places where they have never before done business or have had a relatively small presence. They are operating in relatively unknown frontiers, having to anticipate and ensure that labor availability and their physical spaces, infrastructure, supply chain, and business continuity plans (see "Critical Partnering of IT and RE in Business Continuity Planning
") complement core business drivers. In many cases, these drivers are still developing, and in almost every case this is all happening at warp speed.

We are seeing an especially high level of accelerated globalization in emerging markets like China and India. There, our clients are working to align their physical occupancy of leased or owned space with the ability of their businesses to thrive. And when it comes to infrastructure, communications capabilities and electrical grid strength and redundancy have become as important as water and sewer in today's high-tech world.

About the Author

Bill Knotts, Senior Managing Director, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

Bill Knotts, Senior Managing Director, Cushman & Wakefield, is responsible for the delivery of Client Solutions Services to the U.S. central region area corporate clientele. Knotts has more than 22 years of experience in the real estate industry, including corporate real estate management and development, as well as portfolio management, transaction management, lease administration, facility management, and program management in the real estate service industry.
He is a graduate of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. He was the founding member of the Greater Fort Worth Real Estate Council and is a member of the City of Fort Worth Economic Development Committee. Knotts is also an active member of CoreNet Global and BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) and is currently a CoreNet MCR candidate. In addition, he has served as an instructor for BOMI.

Should CIOs be as critically involved in the location decision for a new manufacturing plant or industrial facility as they are in the location decision for a data center? Please provide an example of an industrial location decision that was focused specifically on a company's IT needs.

The more networked technologically the organization is relative to logistics, enterprise financial, POS systems and inventory tracking, the more often the CIO is involved in all core real estate decisions.More
- Bill Knotts, Senior Managing Director, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.